I’m a veteran Chicago-based consumer automotive journalist devoted to providing news, views, timely tips and reviews to help maximize your automotive investments. In addition to posting on Forbes.com, I'm a Contributing Editor for Consumers Digest magazine and write frequently on automotive topics for other national and regional publications and websites. My work also appears in newspapers across the U.S., syndicated by CTW Features. I'm the author of the Automotive Intelligentsia Money-Saving New-Car Guide and the Automotive Intelligentsia series of Sports Car Guides, available via Amazon.com and Barnes and Noble online and at the Apple iBook store. Email me at carguyjim@att.net.

The Environmentally 'Meanest' Cars For 2014

While the most environmentally friendly new vehicles for 2014 are, as one might expect, an amenable assortment of hybrids, electric cars and fuel-frugal gasoline-powered models, most of us would probably pay heed to the little cartoon devils whispering in our ears and find the assortment of rides at the other end of the eco spectrum to be far more appealing.

According to the annual list of eco “meanest” cars just released by the American Council for an Energy Efficient Economy (ACEEE) in Washington, D.C., the least-environmentally new vehicles for sale in the U.S. include the big and burly Ram 2500 full-size pickup truck and one of the fastest and most expensive sports cars in production, the Bugatti Veyron. Unlike the ACEEE’s assortment of most eco-benign models, which were dominated by Japanese automakers, with Honda and Toyota alone accounting for seven out of the 12 models cited, the “dirty dozen” vehicles for 2014 all come from domestic and European brands.

How mean are they? The ACEEE’s greenest car for 2014, the tiny two-seat Smart ForTwo Electric Drive, earned a “Green Score” of 59, which is the highest rating for a passenger car ever recorded by the ACEEE. By comparison, the aforementioned Ram 2500 received a rock bottom 18 points. Other saintly sinners on the meanest new-car list include the upper crust Bentley Mulsanne, Rolls-Royce Phantom and Lamborghini Aventador as well as the more proletariat Ford E-150 Wagon, and the full-size Lincoln Navigator and Cadillac Escalade ESV luxury SUVs.

We’re featuring the ACEEE’s complete list of this year’s dozen meanest cars, along with their estimated fuel economy ratings and Green Scores in the accompanying slide show. Those who might instead be listening to the little cartoon angels in their ears can check out the Council’s aggregate of the greenest cars for 2014 here.

The ACEEE determines its Green Score rankings according to combination of factors that primarily takes into account a vehicle’s fuel economy and its tailpipe emissions. The latter include health-damaging and smog-forming airborne pollutants like hydrocarbons, nitrogen oxide, particulate matter, carbon monoxide and formaldehyde, as well as greenhouse gases that contribute to climate change, like carbon dioxide, nitrous oxide, methane and other compounds. The Green Scores also consider such factors as emissions estimates for a vehicle’s manufacturing process, disposal impact and (though not applicable here) natural gas extraction practices and the sources of energy used to generate power for electric cars.

And even if you’re in the market for a purposeful pickup truck or midlife crisis indulging sporty car, keep in mind that neither necessarily has to be a Mother Nature-defiling gas guzzler. The ACEEE also identifies widely available, and in many cases, more practical and affordable, “greener” choices in a wide range of model categories on its greenercars.org website. The site also includes eco-ratings of more than 1,000 separate vehicle configurations, albeit available only on a subscription basis ($8.95 for 30 days or $19.95 for 12 months). Meanwhile, information on fuel economy and tailpipe emissions ratings for all new (and previous model-year) cars and trucks can also be found at no cost on the Environmental Protection Agency’s website, fueleconomy.gov.

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The problem with the “worst” vehicles on your list is not the vehicles.

The problem with the vehicles on your list is the fuel that is used.

Vehicles that run on petroleum can also run on ethanol. We’ve been doing it for over 100 years. Ethanol is a superior fuel to petroleum—that is why the fastest, most advanced race cars in the world all run on 100% ethanol.

We can even use vehicles that run on a mixture of ethanol and petroleum. We have been on the market for over 25 years.

Ethanol produces a small fraction of the harmful emissions that petroleum does.

Simply make the engines flex fuel and use E85 instead of gasoline. Your vehicle will run better and cleaner. And you’ll get 84 miles per gallon(of petroleum) instead of 12.

Here’s the problem with your solution… Ethanol is a solvent. A strong solvent. With a short shelf life. A vehicle fed 85% Ethanol would have an engine life approximately 1/3rd that of a gasoline powered equivalent. Fleet vehicles running these hybrids are and have been reporting this issue for years, and those of us in the auto repair industry have been dealing with the aftermath.

The older the vehicle, the more damage Ethanol does. Which brings up my point;

If the author or the AEEEEEEEE thinks these vehicles are bad, what do they think of a 5 or 10 (or more) year old poorly maintained vehicle? Of course, it is the road’s predominant polluter, and it is totally ignored. Why do I say that?

As a vehicle ages, emissions benchmarks for annual or bi-annual testing are relaxed each year. Aftermarket catalytic converters need not meet O.E. specs, and pollution levels on older cars can be 100x higher than their spec if they are out of tune.

But it doesn’t play well with the ‘Green’ agenda, because there are no ‘Big, Bad, Corporations’ to attack. So the biggest fish goes untried.

——” Here’s the problem with your solution… Ethanol is a solvent. A strong solvent. With a short shelf life.”—-

If you say so Bob. However, you might have trouble convincing the people who bought these of your views:

http://www.themost10.com/10-most-expensive-whiskeys-in-the-world/

——–”02 – 105 Year Old Master of Malt (Price: $1.4 Million)”——-

The ethanol in the 105 year old bottle is exactly the same stuff that goes into the fuel tank.

——-” Ethanol would have an engine life approximately 1/3rd that of a gasoline powered equivalent.”——–

Almost all gasoline sold in the US is E10, it already contains 10% ethanol. Gasoline is a poor solvent and has too low an octane rating to be used without an oxygenate. Ethanol is currently the least toxic and least expensive oxygenate available. The gasoline you are using now will have a useful life as long as ethanol—-because it already contains ethanol.

—–” As a vehicle ages, emissions benchmarks for annual or bi-annual testing are relaxed each year. Aftermarket catalytic converters need not meet O.E. specs, and pollution levels on older cars can be 100x higher than their spec if they are out of tune.”——-

So keep it in tune. Keeping a car in tune means efficiently burning all the fuel that goes into the engine. Ethanol is not absorbed by inhalation or by skin contact. If it were, anyone who works in a bar or hospital would be drunk all the time, they aren’t because ethanol is not absorbed by inhalation or skin contact. Unlike petroleum gasoline, which contains a witches brew of highly variable VOCs. Ethanol is one thing, and one thing only, ethanol—-safe enough to drink, give back rubs with, or inhale.

——–” But it doesn’t play well with the ‘Green’ agenda, because there are no ‘Big, Bad, Corporations’ to attack. So the biggest fish goes untried”——

We’ve been making flex fuel cars that run on either gasoline, or any mixture of gasoline and ethanol up to and including E85(85% ethanol) for 25 years. There are about 8-10 million flex fuel cars on the road in the US today. Flex fuel vehicles cost the same as conventional gasoline only vehicles, come with all the same amenities and options and have the same warranties as gasoline only vehicles. The very first engine that Henry Ford built ran on ethanol. When the Model T was introduced in 1908, it could be ordered with an adjustable Holly carburetor that could be set to run on either gasoline or ethanol. Henry Ford was building cars long before there was any such thing as a “Green” agenda. But there was a John D. Rockefeller with an “Anti-Green” agenda who wanted to sell a waste product of kerosene refining——gasoline. The reason that the Chicago fire was so devastating? Kerosene refiners were dumping waste gasoline into the Chicago river. Even the river caught fire.

Not saying anything very original, getting older cars off the road would go a long way toward improving the environmental picture. I guess “Cash for Clunkers” was a one-off? There’s gotta be a way to re-run that every so often and find a way for it to help pay for itself.